Broadband News

Is Virgin Media to sell its business division?

Virgin Media according to The Times (as spotted by DigitalSpy.co.uk) is looking to
raise some £600m by selling off its ntl:Telewest business communications unit. Divesting itself of its business division may provide the money that is needed for the investment needed to get DOCSIS
3.0 rolled out across its network.

The full article on The Times, reveals that rather than a simple sale a
combination with another business communications provider looks most likely. Thus is mentioned, which itself is currently being bought for £329m by Cable & Wireless.

Raising money during a credit crunch for things like network upgrades such as the DOCSIS 3.0 roll-out needed to provide speeds of 50Mbps and faster across the cable network are crucial for Virgin
Media in the next couple of years. The Virgin Media ADSL products seem to have consistently suffered from under investment, and while the original launch of the Virgin Media name suggested a lot more
investment in this area, to date nothing has happened. Interestingly changes on their ADSL network, were linked to a wholesale
deal with Cable and Wireless.

The second quarter figures for Virgin Media are expected on Thursday, and after the drop in broadband customers seen by AOL Broadband and Orange it will be interesting to see how Virgin Media is
holding up in a market that is much more interested in the lowest price rather than the products performance.